Pensacola Beach Air Show to feature more than Blue Angels (video, photos)

Flying over Pensacola Beach with Team RVHighlights from a flight over Pensacola Beach with the air show pilots of Team RV, the world's largest air show team, and comments from Mike "Kahuna" Stewart, the team's founder and flight lead. (Video by Dennis Pillion / al.com)

PENSACOLA, Florida -- When Greg "Greese" Reese takes to the skies in today's Pensacola Beach Air Show, he has to feel about as comfortable as a man can be while soaring in precision formation with 10 other aircraft at 200 miles per hour.

After all, Reese has been flying longer than he's been driving. He joined the Civil Air Patrol at 16 and spent nine years in the Air Force.

Nowadays, when Reese takes off with Team RV - the world's largest air show team - he does so to escape the monotony of his day job - a pilot for Delta Airlines.

Reese and the 10 other Team RV pilots are scheduled to go on at 12:50 p.m., about 70 minutes before the legendary Blue Angels.

Just after 2 p.m., the Blues will scream across the skies over Pensacola Beach, reaching speeds of up to 700 mph, altitudes as low as 50 feet and at one point, holding formation only 18 inches apart.

While the Blues' performance will undoubtedly be the highlight of today's show, Team RV hopes to give the massive crowds gathered at Pensacola Beach an opening act worth remembering.

No one will confuse the team's kit-built RV-8 planes with the Angels' F/A-18s, but the smaller propeller-driven planes do offer some advantages.

"The Blues need a lot of room to make those passes," Reese said. "We can stay in front of the audience for almost the whole show."

Team RV (the name is taken from the initials of the planes' designer, Richard VanGrunsven) performs at about 15 air shows per year, but its pilots said they take a special sense of pride in performing at the Pensacola Beach Air Show.

Mike "Kahuna" Stewart, the flight lead and founder of Team RV, said flying over water actually makes it easier for the pilots.

"When we fly our land shows, the turbulence and the heat rising causes a lot of bumps and it's a whole lot of work for the pilots," Stewart said. "We love being at the beach shows, and this one here being a Blue Angels show and being the home of the Blue Angels, makes it particularly special for us."

Watch the video at right to see some of the formations from within during Friday's media flight. The flight contained formations, but they consisted of very basic maneuvers for the benefit of the untrained passengers. Today's Team RV show promises to be a much more exciting ride.

UPDATE: Poor weather conditions forced air show organizers to cancel the civilian portion of the show. Team RV will not be able to perform in this year's show. The Blue Angels are still scheduled to go on at 2 p.m., weather permitting.